An Open Letter to Page, Plant, and Jones

Dear Led Zeppelin:

In the "The Who/Led Zeppelin" debate, I've always been a "Who" man. I think Keith Moon was a better drummer than Bonham. I think Entwhistle matched John Paul Jones in skill level, and his bass lines were more interesting. The rhythm section as a whole was more interesting to me in the Who, simply because, by and large, they weren't providing rhythm - they were pretty much treating drums and bass like a guitar, trying to provide their own "melody". I've always liked Townsend's guitaring better, too, because he somehow could drive the rhythm and solo. I think the lot of the Who were infintely less pretentious than Zeppelin. Everytime somebody tries to say to me that Zeppelin is better and I counter I think the Who is better, they say, "look at all the bands that followed Zeppelin - the influence speaks for itself", and I reply, "But everybody can sound like Zeppelin - nobody has ever sounded like the Who, because nobody can ever match the Who in that sound. It's not that I don't like you guys, Zep - I think you're great. I just think the Who was greater.

However, I've always respected you over the Who in one way: when your drummer died, you knew to call it quits. You didn't go parading around without a central figure (and then without two - I don't care if you did write almost all the songs, Pete, you and Roger should tour as "Townsend and Daltrey" not as "The Who"). Thus, for going your separate ways when a central part of your band died, I always respected you.

Well, thanks for nothing.

Cheers,
Mr. Trend